The House of Jagat Seth by J. H. Little first appeared in the form of two articles in the Bengal Past and Present in 1920-21. The book is very useful for the students of Bengal as it has a wealth of materials for the economic and political history of the eighteenth century. The student of modern Indian history may consult it with profit for it has plenty of first-hand materials. This book was first published by the Calcutta Historical Society in 1967 with an introduction by Professor N. K. Sinha. But that edition of the book was out of print for a long time. I thank KP Bagchi & Company for bringing out the second edition of the book which was overdue. I dedicate this edition of the book to the memory of my esteemed teacher Professor N. K. Sinha who did pioneering work in the field of Bengal's economic history.
J. H. Little's The House of Jagat Seth appeared in two instalments in the pages of Bengal Past and Present (vols. XX and XXII) in 1920-1921. Mr. Little was Headmaster of Nawab Bahadur's Institution in Murshidabad, the Pre-British capital of Bengal. As he was staying at Murshidabad he had easy access to both original and secondary sources of the history of Bengal in the eighteenth century which has been described by some scholars as that of anarchy and disorder. Little collected his materials from India Office Library and the Company's Correspondence with the home government preserved in India. These were published in the Fort William - India House series edited by renowned scholars. Our historian also collected some first hand materials from the family archives of the Jagat Seths. For secondary sources he depended on Ghulam Hussain Tabatabai's Siyar-Mutakherin (history of modern times) and Ghulam Hussain Salim's Riyaz-us-Salatin. The English rendering of these Persian works was avail-able in his time. For English version of the story he consulted Scrafton's Reflections, Vansittart's Narrative and C. R. Wilson's Annals. He has also extensively quoted from Law's Memoirs and Hill's Bengal in 1756-57.
The House of Jagat Seth is the history of a great Banking family of India in the eighteenth century. Professor N. K. Sinha has compared their role in money and politics with that of the Fuggers of Augsburg and the Medicis of Florence. The Augsburg family was the banker of the Spanish royal family. The Medicis were the bankers of the Pope and the Valois of France. The European bankers enjoyed their days of glory and power in the sixteenth century while the Jagat Seth family flourished and enjoyed power and wealth in the first half of the eighteenth century. They reached the climax of their wealth and power between 17171767. In banking, exchange, minting of coins and many other areas of finance the Jagat Seth house enjoyed almost the monopoly of power. They had a tendency to monopolise finance capital. At this period there was no other banking family who could compete with them. This banking family hailed from Nagar in Marwar and by religion they were Jains. Though they lived in Bengal for generations and there were as many as eight Jagat Seths in the family they normally kept aloof from Bengali language and culture. Consequently this wealthy house which has been compared by Edmund Burke with the Bank of England could not leave any permanent mark on the cultural history of Bengal. The Medicis made Florence the cultural capital of Italy. Art, literature and culture of Bengal received nothing from this very wealthy banking family who had enormous wealth and political influence.
The Marwari bankers and traders became prominent in the economic life of India in the eighteenth century. The general law-lessness and disorder could not dampen their spirit. Their influence was felt from Astrakan in Russia in the West to Dacca in the east. During the Mughal period the Marwari Community were spreading rapidly and dominated trade and banking. The atmosphere was congenial as Marwar, especially Pali, was emerging as a great mart and entrepot between western ports and eastern regions of India. India exchanged her products with those of Eu-rope. India exported cotton piece goods, silk, silk goods, indigo, arms and salt. Foreigners brought with them copper, broad cloth, camphor, dyes, drugs etc. The Marwaris learnt the art of trade and banking and technique of exchange. Bengal had no powerful banking class. Suvanavaniks who acted as mahajans resented their low social ranking and consequently no other social class aspired to be bankers in Bengal. This was an opportunity for the Jagat Seth family to rise in banking business.
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